This is sort of one of those "A point but also not a point" things. On the one hand, calling everything "man" MIGHT be inaccurate or annoying, as most things are open to both genders. On the other, we also are hu-mans who are part of man-kind, etc. "Man" has also always been a generic term for humans.

I don't think you make things much clearer, less "offensive," or less annoying if you keep it OR change it. Kind of a lose-lose, but also supremely unimportant.

Female will now be Fesapien. What I am saying is, language changes but that doesn't remotely change how people treat each other.

Previously it was ok to call people idiots, now people just say special. What you have to combat is people's treatment of those with mental disabilities and illnesses, not their language.

/Oh and don't bring up how an accomplished female will have a better time in the workplace because someone has to fill a quota or something. They don't like to hear it. It really poops on what they have done.

LasersHurt:This is sort of one of those "A point but also not a point" things. On the one hand, calling everything "man" MIGHT be inaccurate or annoying, as most things are open to both genders. On the other, we also are hu-mans who are part of man-kind, etc. "Man" has also always been a generic term for humans.

I don't think you make things much clearer, less "offensive," or less annoying if you keep it OR change it. Kind of a lose-lose, but also supremely unimportant.

Maybe in a few specific instances, it might be good to change it.

It's funny because in the fight for supremacy, feminists are actually otherizing women. Why not be done with the women denominator as a whole then and have every person be called a man regardless of their sex/gender? Differentiating just get nebulous every day and it's actually the basis of most of the discrimination against anything that isn't a man. If everybody was a man, then we wouldn't have the conundrum of gay marriage.

What's the importance of differentiating anyway? Plus with the fracture of current society in terms of sex and gender, it's kind of a moot point since it's not a binary thing anymore.

LasersHurt:This is sort of one of those "A point but also not a point" things. On the one hand, calling everything "man" MIGHT be inaccurate or annoying, as most things are open to both genders. On the other, we also are hu-mans who are part of man-kind, etc. "Man" has also always been a generic term for humans.

rocky_howard:LasersHurt: This is sort of one of those "A point but also not a point" things. On the one hand, calling everything "man" MIGHT be inaccurate or annoying, as most things are open to both genders. On the other, we also are hu-mans who are part of man-kind, etc. "Man" has also always been a generic term for humans.

I don't think you make things much clearer, less "offensive," or less annoying if you keep it OR change it. Kind of a lose-lose, but also supremely unimportant.

Maybe in a few specific instances, it might be good to change it.

It's funny because in the fight for supremacy, feminists are actually otherizing women. Why not be done with the women denominator as a whole then and have every person be called a man regardless of their sex/gender? Differentiating just get nebulous every day and it's actually the basis of most of the discrimination against anything that isn't a man. If everybody was a man, then we wouldn't have the conundrum of gay marriage.

What's the importance of differentiating anyway? Plus with the fracture of current society in terms of sex and gender, it's kind of a moot point since it's not a binary thing anymore.

I like bsg because they call everyone sir regardless. I imagine those would be the little things a society needs to make it to equality.

And...? It's their institution, they can have their own policies regarding attempts at reducing sexism if they want. Besides, the language we use does influence the way we think. And decades of research has shown time and again how small cues in our environment - such as the language we read/hear others use - influences us in small but meaningful ways. It'll just be interesting to see if either (a) the institution rescinds the policy if it turns out it has no appreciable effect on sexist attitudes or if (b) the people who find this stupid and a waste of time would apologize if it turns out something like this does have an appreciable effect on sexist attitudes.

rocky_howard:It's funny because in the fight for supremacy, feminists are actually otherizing women.

I think this is more the purvue of the "older" versions of feminism, or at least dwindling. (also supremacy is not the goal of any reasonable Feminist) My fiancee has explained the assorted "waves" of feminism, though I've only picked up parts here and there because the topic is slightly less riveting to me than it is to her.

Essentially, as an idea, it's growing and refining and moving towards general "humanism". The "othering" will continue for a while, because while things are getting better in the developed world, there's still basic foundations yet to be laid in lots of the developing world.

Hermione_Granger:LasersHurt: This is sort of one of those "A point but also not a point" things. On the one hand, calling everything "man" MIGHT be inaccurate or annoying, as most things are open to both genders. On the other, we also are hu-mans who are part of man-kind, etc. "Man" has also always been a generic term for humans.

So is the word "people".

Right, but if we acknowledge that both work in general... why get too arsed about changing?

Reminds me of when LA banned any product with "master" or "slave" labels. Like hard drives (this was back in the PATA/IDE days) or any kind of paired devices where one controlled the other. No more master control panels for you!

The Daily Mail loves nothing more than proudly fighting sexism while running a "Femail" section all about which celebrities have the worst bikini bodies, which starlets just turned legal age, and why working women are killing society and their own babies.

So instead of saying, "we interfaced a master to a slave device in freshman electronics" you say, "we interfaced a master to a slave device in first year electronics." And then it's no longer offensive.